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There’s a ton of controversy circling around Hillary Clinton and those emails this week as the FBI recommended no criminal action be taken against her for not keeping top secret information secure – they did recommend administrative action.

According to Paul Ryan, administrative action in this situation would translate to cutting her off from any access to classified or top secret documents in the future. And now that the possibility of criminal charges has been set aside, the State Department has reopened their investigation into the matter. And if “administrative” action is recommended by them, “we have a problem, Houston!”

Access Denied

Once her Presidential candidacy is verified at the Democratic National Convention later this month, she would normally be given access to a lot of classified information. Whether or not that will happen will depend on what the State Department determines. Can you even imagine a President (if she’s elected) who has been stripped of any privileges to view or know confidential information?

That’s a PR nightmare hanging in the wind right now. And don’t dismiss the anger of many Americans about the FBI “wimping” out by the estimation of many in the public arena. Considering how much smoke has surrounded both Bill and Hillary over the years in such matters, her ultimate admission that she had lied to the FBI when it came to several of their inquiries into the emails. Add all that to her now famous statement long after the tragedy at Benghazi of “what difference, at this point, does it make?” It’s becoming impossible for the American people to forget as she would so like everyone to do.

Aftermath

The lessons learned in crisis PR would usually say that having so many strikes against her when looking at public perception, her time at bat should have long been over. But, by whatever means, she’s still doing well in the polls, and those in power still seem to believe she can win the election. The press hasn’t hounded her excessively, and maybe the biggest thing she has going for her is in that whole movement known as #NeverTrump.

Intelligence Analyst & Chief Executive: David Firester

About Me

David Firester is the founder and CEO of TRAC Intelligence (Threat, Reporting, and Analysis Consultants), which is a premier threat analysis firm. TRAC Intelligence provides threat assessments to the private sector.

David is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Political Science and teaches at Baruch College in New York City. He has also taught at Queens College and John Jay College of Criminal Justice. In 2016, David worked on a project for Jihad Intel, which is an organization that provides information on Islamic terrorist groups to law enforcement and the general public.

As a veteran and former Intelligence Analyst with the United States Army 3100th Strategic Intelligence Group (Defense Intelligence Agency), David has been involved at the tactical, operational and strategic levels of analysis. David has also served in the law enforcement community since 2004, and has worked for entities as diverse as the DHS-funded New Jersey Regional Operations and Intelligence Center (NJ ROIC). His work there centered on intelligence analysis and policy review.

He has a rich background in policy, international security, national security, domestic security, counter terrorism, counterinsurgency, and domestic laws related to terrorism.

David Firester's Security Forum is a free, publicly available tool, which aims to summarize complexity and provide insight into areas as diverse as security, intelligence, politics and policy.